Unit 1: Water on the Land

A floodplain is the area around a river that is covered in times of flood.

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Where and how are meanders formed?

Meanders occur in the middle valley and are the result of erosion AND deposition processes on a river.

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Name the different types of erosion.

Corrosion, Corrasion/abrasion, Hydraulic action and Attrition.

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What is corrosion?

Corrosion is where weak acids within the water react with the rocks and bed and bank of the river.

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What does mass movement involve?

These processes involve material on slopes moving down slope. They range in speed from rock falls to much slower soil creep.

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What is hydraulic action?

This is where the sheer force of the water erodes the stones, bed and banks of the river.

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What is Deposition? When does it occur?

This is the laying down of sediment in the river channel or on floodplains. This occurs when river velocities slow within the channel, or when velocities slow over floodplains or when the river enters a sea or lake.

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State what the water cycle consists of.

This is a series of processes by which water is evaporated from the sea and eventually condenses and precipitates over the land. It is the main input to the drainage basin.

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What is Corrasion or abrasion?

This is where stones in transport are thrown into the bed and the banks eroding them.

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What happens to stone size downstream?

Stone size decreases downstream and the stones get rounder and smoother as rivers erode the rocks progressively as the stones are transported downstream. The processes of river erosion operate here.

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What is attrition?

Attrition is where stones in transport are thrown into one another.

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Name the different types of transportation in a river.

Solution,Suspension,Saltation and Traction

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What is Traction?

Traction is the rolling motion of sediment along the bed - normally much larger sediment.

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The management of rivers flooding can be separated into two categories. What are these categories?

Hard engineering and soft engineering.

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What is solution?

Solution is where material is dissolved within the water.

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What is saltation?

This is the bouncing motion of larger particles along the river bed.

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What is suspension?

This is where small particles are held up or suspended in the water.

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What are the reasons why rivers flood divided into?

Rivers flood for a variety of different reasons, and very few rivers have the same background characteristics. The reasons why rivers flood can be divided into HUMAN and PHYSICAL (or Natural) characteristics.